Eilean Donan Castle by DRW Photography

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Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Rogue Knight, Geoffroi and Emma were a great pair. I totally loved this book. Action packed, funny, and hidden secrets. From beginning to end you are wanting more and more, needing to know what happens next.

Though she is unsure of Normans, she realizes not all are bad. She tries to fight it, but knows she cannot. He learns the price of love.

You can read this as a stand alone or as the series and not feel lost. The side characters are developed well and you find you are fond of them. The story line and plot are spot on. If you want a good book by a great author then this is it

Tell us about yourself

I’m a lawyer turned writer and I love it. My first stories were Regencies and since then I’ve written Georgian (late 18th century) and Medieval. My readers seem to like the different historical periods. I expect to be writing Georgian and Regency again, but right now I’m writing a book set in 11th century Scotland.

On the personal side, I live on the coast in San Diego and love it. I get to walk my Golden Retriever on the crest of a hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean every day. But I love to travel, too! Last year I went to the Scottish Highlands with another author and we had a ball.

Tell us about your new book?

Can love bloom in the midst of war? That is the question Rogue Knight answers. It’s book 2 in the Medieval Warriors series and follows award-winning The Red Wolf’s Prize, but it can be read as a stand alone. It’s set in York, England in 1069… three years after the Norman Conquest. The North of England seethes with discontent under the heavy hand of William the Conqueror, who unleashes his fury on the rebels who would dare defy him. Amid the ensuing devastation, love blooms in the heart of a gallant Norman knight for a Yorkshire widow. Emma of York may be my most splendid heroine and Sir Geoffroi my most honorable hero.

When you write, does your real life spill over into your book at any time?

Sometimes, but mostly from my memories and life experiences, both my own or those of others I know. I do extensive research for my novels, hundreds of hours for each one, so I know the times in which I set my stories. In the medieval era, in a time of conquest, it was not uncommon for women to fear rape or forced marriages. To find love among such times and with one of the invading knights would be unexpected. To find a knight who would defy his king to help you even more rare. But it happens in Rogue Knight.

Do you think about a book of yours, being made into a movie, or not when writing?

I have been told some of my books would make great movies (The Red Wolf’s Prize was such a one). It is not surprising to me, as I am very visual, writing to movie scores and seeing the story unfold in my head. I am telling the story of the movie when I write. I don’t plot. I let the history and the characters lead me. It is a movie to me.

When naming your characters, do you give any thought to the actual meaning?

Oh yes. Both to the meaning and to the historical context. All the knights in my Medieval Warriors series are named for the knights who accompanied William the Conqueror to England in 1066. Sir Geoffroi de Tournai, the hero in Rogue Knight, was one of them. And twenty years after the Conquest, in 1086, in the Domesday Book William I had compiled, Sir Geoffroi and Sir Renaud (the hero in The Red Wolf’s Prize) both still held lands in England. I also look for names that fit the place. Knowing York was Anglo-Scandinavian, many character names in Rogue Knight are Norse in origin. Emma’s huge wolfhound is named Magnus after a King of Norway.

What made you want to write and also what made you want to write the genre you are writing?

I discovered historical romance late in life, not as a young woman as many do. Historical romance called to me because those that were infused with real history were so fascinating. I could teach a class in history from some and I loved learning that way. After decades of practicing law, I was in a period where I was reading voraciously, discussing my “finds” with my best friend when she told me I should write one, that I thought like a writer. I took her up on it and that led to my first book in 2012, Racing With the Wind, a Regency set in 1816.

If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?

There are at least a half dozen but the one name that pops to the surface is Virginia Henley because she combined history and worthy love stories so seamlessly. And when she read and then gave me quotes for my Agent of the Crown series and The Red Wolf’s Prize, I was thrilled and so humbled.

Do you have to travel much concerning your books?

When I began to write fiction, I’d already traveled to over 40 countries, some more than once. And some places I travel to in my mind because my research is so deep. But last year I made a research trip with another author to the Highlands of Scotland. (You can see the pictures from my trip on a Pinterest board here: https://www.pinterest.com/reganwalker123/regans-trip-to-the-western-highlands-of-scotland-s/. It was my third trip to Scotland but this time I was looking through the eyes of a writer and taking notes. I’m using all I learned for my next book, Rebel Warrior, set in 11th century Scotland.

What was the hardest part of writing your book?

Generally, it’s the middle of the book… finding the best path for the story. But in my new book I’m writing now, it was oddly the beginning. Thankfully, I’m past that. First I immerse myself in the setting, then the history and then the characters and their story emerge. I use maps and lots of pictures and make Pinterest storyboards for each book. Here’s the one for Rogue Knight: https://www.pinterest.com/reganwalker123/rogue-knight-by-regan-walker/.

I think the most important thing is to get the book done and then get some critical eyes on it (not your best friend’s). Then, when you are satisfied you have done your best, get a good editor (for both story and copyedits). When the two of you agree it’s ready, get a good cover artist. I can’t tell you how many times a cover has either sold me or sent me away. Make sure it says something about your story. I do my covers while I’m writing the book and then I write to the cover. (I hate covers that don’t match the book!) And one last thought: I would stay in one genre until you are established before jaunting off to another.

BLURB – Rogue Knight

"Mesmerizing medieval romance! A vivid portrayal of love flourishing amidst the turbulence of the years after the Norman Conquest."

-- Kathryn Le Veque, USA Today Bestselling Author

York, England 1069… three years after the Norman Conquest

The North of England seethes with discontent under the heavy hand of William the Conqueror, who unleashes his fury on the rebels who dare to defy him. Amid the ensuing devastation, love blooms in the heart of a gallant Norman knight for a Yorkshire widow.

A LOVE NEITHER CAN DENY, A PASSION NEITHER CAN RESIST

Angry at the cruelty she has witnessed at the Normans’ hands, Emma of York is torn between her loyalty to her noble Danish father, a leader of the rebels, and her growing passion for an honorable French knight.

Loyal to King William, Sir Geoffroi de Tournai has no idea Emma hides a secret that could mean death for him and his fellow knights.

WAR DREW THEM TOGETHER, WAR WOULD TEAR THEM APART

War erupts, tearing asunder the tentative love growing between them, leaving each the enemy of the other. Will Sir Geoffroi, convinced Emma has betrayed him, defy his king to save her?

Poem I wrote

(You can use my poems, but cannot change or alter them, they are mine and in my own words. Please keep them that way)

Once in a while you hear something

Something you never thought to hear

It gets to the bones of you

Tearing through your thoughts

Things like those don’t need to be heard

They should stay where they should be

On the back of your tongue

Never to be put forth

Those things should not be heard

They can rip your thoughts from good to not sure

They can make you feel uneven

They should be unheard they should be left behind

They should never be said 8/27/2012

Poem I Wrote

(You can use my poems, but cannot change or alter them, they are mine and in my own words. Please keep them that way)

I look into the distance I see so much, it is almost hard to take in The tree's so colorful, vibrant and warm The hills so yellow, swaying in the wind The stream runs in the middle, little splashes of water can be seen as the water falls to the bottom The sun hitting just so, that you look in awe of it

How can this beautiful sight be before me How such beauty can be seen here How can I capture it to savor I look deep and hard for I want it etched in my mind What wonders stand in front of me

Man can not take this away They cannot capture it They cannot recreate it They can only look at it and remember it

Because Mother Nature is the painter and Mother Earth is the canvas 5/23/14